Barclays Expands ‘Pingit’ Service to Africa

Barclays has launched an international version of its "Pingit" mobile person to person payments system  in Kenya.

Barclays launched Pingit in February 2012 for its 11.9 million current account customers, who download the bank's Pingit app to their smart phone and can make instant money transfers to anyone with a U.K.-based mobile phone and a current account with any U.K. bank.

In the U.K. market, the app works on Apple iPhones, Blackberry and Android devices. Users call the recipient's mobile number using the Pingit app, key in an amount between £1 and £300 and hit send. The money is moved between the two current accounts using the Faster Payments service, and takes as little as 30 seconds.

Barclays plans to launch launch the mobile-to-mobile service in Kenya, adding service to a number of other African countries, including South Africa, later in 2012. 

Barclays also will launch in Spain, Italy, Portugal and France in 2013.

The bank estimates the service, which will be available to customers and non-customers, will reduce the cost of sending money to Africa by at least half. 

Barclays will charge a commission on the currency exchange but no fee to use the service. 

That suggests a £100 transfer will cost less than £3. Traditional money transfer providers typically charge both a fee and a spread on currency, which could mean a £5-£10 charge on a £100 transfer.